The present invention relates to a device for the sealed connection of communicating ducts in adjoining and/or connected components of an internal combustion engine, in particular of communicating ducts in a crankcase and an oil sump of an internal combustion engine, as per the preamble of patent claim 1.
DE 10 2004 037 054 A1, for example, discloses a generic sealing device in which a connecting pipe with a sealing ring is used in ducts provided in flange regions of components of an internal combustion engine. Aside from generating the sealed connection of the ducts which conduct lubricating oil, for example, such connecting pipes also act as centering sleeves which, in a manner which facilitates assembly, also permit a defined assignment of the components to be connected. Tolerance compensation transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the connecting pipe is scarcely possible here without inadmissible warping of the sealing device. In the case of certain components of internal combustion engines, however, there is the problem that, in a further flange plane which is for example perpendicular to the first flange plane, components must be connected which span the components joined together with the connecting pipe via the first flange plane (for example a timing sprocket cover, a clutch housing, a flywheel housing, etc.). Here, leaks and/or component warping may arise as a result of flange surfaces which are not in exact alignment.